Hitting Balls at the Moon

Hitting Balls at the Moon

1988 9 September 20 Hitting Balls at the Moon (407) Once a poor caddy at Pedereda in Spain, the now world-famous golf champion, Severiano Ballesteros has won millions of dollars by winning tournaments on both sides of the Atlantic. To achieve such proficiency he had to practice very hard and as he once told Frank Keating of the Guardian, he used to get up at night to hit a hundred or so balls” at the moon.” He could not see them but “1 can tell how good and straight 1 hit them by the feel in hands and the sand.”

The intensive preparation which leads us to success in worldly pursuits is, in the single-minded concentration which it requires, on a parallel with dedication to religious goals. The highest levels of such dedication is indicated by the individual’s willingness to miss his sleep so that his performance should improve. Indeed, the Quran lays emphasis on the virtues of keeping an all-night vigil:

You that are wrapped up in your mantle, keep vigil all night, save for a few hours; half the night or even less; or a little more – and with measured tone recite the Quran” for We are about to address to you words of surpassing gravity. It is in the watches of the night that impressions are strongest and words most eloquent; in the day time you are hard-pressed with work. Remember the name of your Lord and dedicate yourself to Him utterly (73:1-8).

From these verses it is clear that God requires His servant to be so devoted to divine service that they should rise at night in order to perform their duties to the Lord. One reason for adopting this nocturnal habit is that people are too preoccupied with mundane matters during the day to find the time or the solitude in which to perform their religious duties effectively, and another is that the impact of religious words and thoughts is greater at night, because the mind is free then of daytime concerns. And just as Ballesteros considered the winning of a golf tournament an objective worth missing his sleep for, so should the good Muslim feel that his religion is worth keeping a night vigil for. The true Muslim should so identify himself with Islam, that religious devotions at night should seem to him to be the most obvious and the most natural way to prepare himself for the great task of spreading its message to the four corners of the earth.